Johnny Cash: 10 best songs recorded @ SUN Studio

“The Sun recordings maximized the effective contrast between the hustling rhythm of the bass and acoustic guitar and the ponderous, sparse vocals & lead guitar. Phillips achievement was to keep Cash’s sound at it’s bare essentials, an then fatten it up with the use of slapback echo. Subsequent producers and engineers could never quite recapture that formula. .. Johnny Cash’s three years of recordings for Sun are a wonderful demonstration of just how far a whole can outclass the sum of it’s parts”
~Colin Escott & Martin Hawkins (Good Rockin’ Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock ‘N’ Roll)

I’m visiting SUN Studio again i January, and will post a series of SUN/STAX/Memphis related articles the coming months. This is the first one.

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I guess it’s much the same as with Elvis Presley: Some will always argue that “The Sun years” represents both Cash & Presley’s best recorded material. Personally I feel both artists created great art at Sun… and after Sun.

But there sure is something magical about the SUN sound.

The Sun SoundThe Sun Sound is music of feeling, emotion and passion. The Sun Sound is music that transports you to memories of happiness, friendship and hardship. It’s a timeless sound.

Sam Phillips “rolled tape until he caught magic”, he didn’t watch the clock.. He knew that great art couldn’t be forced…. patience was fundamental.
Sam always knew what he was looking for… authenticity… soul.. and he nailed it over & over. Not every day, not every week, not every month.. BUT over the years his legacy is enormous.

Johnny Cash holding his first album (With His Hot and Blue Guitar)

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Here are my 10 favorite Johnny Cash’s songs recorded @ SUN:

I Walk The Line

Folsom Prison Blues

Give My Love To Rose

Get a Rhythm

Big River

Don’t Make Me Go

Home of The Blues

Guess Things Happen That Way

Cry! Cry! Cry!

Hey Porter

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I Walk The Line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you’re mine, I walk the line

Hey porter

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